Water for Elephants

by Sara Gruen. Allen & Unwin, 2006.

Water for Elephants is a novel, told in flashback by nonagenarian Jacob Jankowski, and recounts the wild and wonderful period he spent with the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth, a traveling circus he joined during the Great Depression. When 23-year-old Jankowski learns that his parents have been killed in a car crash, leaving him penniless. He drops out of veterinary school and joins the circus, where he cares for a menagerie of exotic creatures. Naturally he also falls in love with Marlena, one of the show's star performers.

Throughout the book is the intelligence of the elephant Rosie. But the beauty for me, was more the insight into the thoughts of an old man living in a nursing home; his view of those around him, and the often incorrect perceptions others have of him. It certainly makes you think.

- Wendy